I was
asked this question yesterday and it caused me to stop and think, “My what? I
don’t know that I really have a list of wonders.” And I don’t. At least not on
paper anywhere that I know of. But actually I do. I think every Christian has
one. I just haven’t taken time to “take inventory”. As a teenager I worked in a
grocery store about the size of the Trenton Marketplace. At least once a year
every employee had to show up to help with inventory. This involved “counting”
every item in the store: from the shelves to everything in the stockroom. An
inventory is “a detailed list of articles, goods,
property, etc.” which helps the store owner to understand the value of what he
has at any given time.
Have
you ever taken inventory of God’s wonders? This involves taking some time to
make a list of the wondrous things in God’s world that you have personally
observed. It also includes thinking about the wondrous things God has done for
you in your own life. David took inventory of God’s wonders in Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name
in all the earth… When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars, which you have set in place…” In 1885, Carl Boberg
paraphrased these words into his hymn, O
Store Gud (Our Great God), now known to us as How Great Thou Art. His lyrics include the phrase… “when I in
awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made…”
To
“consider” is to stop and take inventory.
It means to reflect on, contemplate, or ponder. What’s on your list of
wonders? Don’t have one? Haven’t thought much about it? It’s not because the
wonders aren’t there. You just need to take a little time to compose it. Doing
this from time to time is a very healthy spiritual discipline. It grounds us.
It brings God’s greatness and glory back into focus and re-orients our attitude
of thanksgiving to its proper place.
How
do you take inventory of God’s wonders? You can write a list on a piece of
paper. You can take turns speaking them around the family dinner table. You can
take and save photos of them on your phone or computer. You can meditate on
them in a season of prayer. You can play a game with your kids (“Let’s go
through the alphabet thinking of words that describe God’s wonders A to Z…”).
You can make list of blessings (one for each of the last __ years, months,
weeks, days, etc.) God has given you by His grace. You can… be quite creative
and come up with other ways. I am going to try to remember to add a page on our
church website that we can call “Our List of Wonders” and anyone (especially
our own church folks) can submit additions to the list any time. I envision the
list will just keep growing and growing, and become a source of encouragement,
inspiration, and worship for anyone who checks it out.
One
thing these ideas have in common is that they involve taking some time. Taking inventory
– making a list – of wonders takes time. A busy life too often keeps us from
making or revisiting such a list as often as we could. But if we are on the
lookout, God will easily add new wonders of who He is and what He is doing to
our lists (our lives) every day. The hymn, Count
Your Blessings, by Johnson Oatman, was first published in 1897. The
well-known words call out to us to… “Count
your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath
done; Count your blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you
what the Lord hath done.” Surprise may be one response. But I believe
worship is one of the main things a list like this will elicit in our lives.
And it is never out of place to worship God, for He is worthy.
What’s
on your list of wonders? Don’t have one? All it takes is one thing to start the
list. You will be amazed at how quickly it will grow.
Psalm 40:5 (NIV) 5 Many, O LORD my
God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can
recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to
declare.
Psalm 40:5 (NLT) 5 O LORD my
God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous
to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I
would never come to the end of them.
Psalm 66:16 (NIV) 16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what
he has done for me.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we
ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to
him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for
ever and ever! Amen.
PRAYER: Father, lead me to encounter and appreciate
the many wonders you have performed. Lead me away from a shallow life, lived in
ignorance of all that you are and all you have done. What a tragedy it would be
for me to miss these things. Open up my heart to fully enjoy these things, and
to love you all the more for them. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
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